Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the country’s president yesterday for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, arguing that criminal proceedings were hindering his ability to govern and a pardon would be good for Israel.
Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, denies the bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges.
His lawyers said in a letter to the president’s office that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings would result in a complete acquittal.
“My lawyers sent a request for pardon to the president of the country today. I expect that anyone who wishes for the good of the country support this step,” Netanyahu said in a brief video statement released by his political party, the Likud.
Neither the prime minister, who has been on trial for five years, nor his lawyers made any admission of guilt.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu should not be pardoned without admitting guilt, expressing remorse and immediately retiring from political life.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted.
Netanyahu’s lawyers argued that the president can intervene when public interest is at stake, as in this case, with a view to healing divisions and strengthening national unity.
President Isaac Herzog’s office described the request as ‘extraordinary’ with ‘significant implications’.
The president ‘will responsibly and sincerely consider the request’ after receiving relevant opinions, his office said.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog this month, urging him to consider granting the prime minister a pardon, saying the case against him was ‘a political, unjustified prosecution’.
Herzog’s office said the request would be forwarded to the pardons department in the justice ministry, as is standard practice, to collect opinions, which would be submitted to the president’s legal adviser, who will formulate a recommendation for the president.
Israel’s Justice Minister Yariv Levin is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and a close ally of the prime minister.
In the letter, Netanyahu’s lawyers argued that criminal proceedings against him had deepened societal divisions and that ending the trial was necessary for national reconciliation.
They also wrote that increasingly frequent court hearings were burdensome.
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